Abstract

A general method for the determination of the conformations of molecules in solution which uses paramagnetic lanthanide ions as perturbing probes of nuclear magnetic resonance spectra is described in outline. Several examples of conformational studies on the lanthanide complexes of amino acids and peptides are given. It is clear that there are two very different groups of lanthanide complexes characterized by those of Pr III and Tm III. The conformations of the Tm III complexes are used to initiate an examination of peptide chain folding and to re-examine the nature of hydrophobic interactions.